Entering Exploratory Programming

Last week we began to actually turn to the more hands-on section of coding. This included downloading the software required. I actually began by downloading version 3, but after consulting with a computer science major redownloaded version 2. In beginning Nick Montfort’s book, it’s clear that it’s unlike most computer science textbooks. It’s very wordy, often using analogies to illustrate various points. Interestingly the book will often have you complete exercises incorrectly so you have a familiarity with different types of errors. Furthermore, I appreciated Montfort’s justifications for learning coding more so then some of the articles we read last week. It provided good arguments about the benefits of coding without necessarily using apocalyptic type arguments. I also really enjoyed our exercise in editing existing code to create our own poems. The poetry reading in particular was very engaging and helped us to visualize the creative aspects of coding and how the arts can apply to this discipline.